La prima verità - Week 88

Hey everyone I hope you all had a great week! This week was strange, due to the fact that Is was the last week serving with Anziano B. I had been serving with him since December and it's weird to me that he will no longer be my companion. My new companion will be Anziano S., who I am good friends with here in the mission. He served in my district in Busto Arsizio and now we are going to be companions. It was a good week.

Our English class students

Just a good ol selfie with Anziano B., M. and N.

We were able to have a family home evening with a family in the branch and P. It was great because as a new convert it helped P. get to know another family in a more personal way. The Liberatos are a
great family and they took in P. and really tried to get to know him. We are slowly reading through the Book of Mormon with him and he really tries to learn from every chapter.

We were also able to go out and have a lunch with the Tomanis before Anziano B. will leave. P. just wants the best for us, and really keeps surprising me how much she listens to what we say. She probably knows as much about my family now as I do, and that's saying something! But she's great! We were also able to go play some calcio and basketball with E. and some of his friends, to make a closer connection with him. He's become a good friend and is willing to listen to our message.

Other than that we spent a lot of time saying goodbye to the members of the branch. In this branch we had been known as cheeseburger, and as we were going to make the visits for Anziano B. I had realized how much of a relationship we had made with these people. The members are devastated that our companionship has to be split up. As a companionship we tried our best to get to know everyone in the branch, and now we were able to see how much of a change we really had made in these people's lives. It just made it harder for me to think when I have to leave these people. But for now I can continue being with them and continue to help them the best I can.

Anyways my mind has been on the subject of a quote that Elder Holland said at the last general conference. He said "we all know the first great commandment is to love the lord with all thine heart, might, mind, and strength. But we also need to remember he first truth, and that is that our father in heaven loves us". A subject in many of our lessons this week has been that of hope. It is easy for us to get lost in the troubles of the world. It is easy to lose hope when things go wrong. But when Elder Holland said this, there came to my mind the most powerful hope and knowledge we can have. When we know or even hope that our Heavenly Father loves us, we can feel a change in us. We can go forward. If we even have a desire to hope or believe that he loves us, then we can receive his love and help in abundance. If we don't believe that Heavenly Father loves us, we blind ourselves to the endless love he offers us. We need to hope and believe that he does indeed love us. Otherwise we are choosing not to hope, and thus choosing not to see his love he desires to show us. I know here in Italy that I have been blessed by his love. I know he is watching over me every day. Without his love, I would not be able to go forward. I would not be able to be happy. I know his love is eternal.

The district